The Richard E. and Deborah L. Tarrant Foundation aims to ease hardship, help people overcome barriers to success, and drive innovative change through efficient and aggressive granting strategies. Focused on Vermont, it prioritizes partnerships with impactful local organizations and intends to fully expend its resources by 2040, avoiding a permanent endowment to directly address today's challenges.
The Tarrant Foundation awards 50–70 competitive grants yearly, exclusively to Vermont organizations, focusing on youth resilience and aspiration, working-age adults’ employment and financial independence, seniors’ comfort and dignity in aging, and enhancing local communities' resources and services. Priorities include programs that address achievement gaps, job readiness, financial literacy, homelessness prevention, independent living for seniors, and community-based addiction recovery. The foundation seeks partners with strong leadership, an entrepreneurial mindset, efficiency, outcome-focused action, diverse funding sources, and a commitment to maximizing the foundation’s investment impact.